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What's Cooking? Indian recipes
P.S. Lakshmi Rao, a retired banker, has a passion for cooking. Her friends and family enjoy her culinary delights. Lakshmi is a long time Atlanta resident.

<<What's Cooking? Main

Diwali Sweets


Bandar Laddu



Step 1: Preparation of Janthika powder

3 Cups chana flour (besan)
1 1/8 Cups water
3 Cups vegetable oil
I Tsp of cardamom (elaichi) powder

Janthika (chakli or murukulu) maker with large star disk.

Mix besan and water to make soft batter. Heat oil in a frying pan. Using a large star hole disk fill janthika maker or chakli maker with besan batter and press it into hot oil. Fry the janthikas until crisp, making sure they do not turn dark brown. The first one might turn out brown but rest of them will come out crisp with little adjustment of heat.

Let all the janthikas cool. Then break them into small pieces. Blend them into fine powder in batches. If the powder is not soft and fine in the first try, blend it again until the powder is fine. Add 1 tsp of fresh ground elaichi (cardamom) to the powder.

The Janthika powder should measure 4 cups. (1 cup is 8 oz.)



Step 2: Preparation of sugar syrup

5 Cups sugar
2 1/2 Cups water
1 Tbsp home made ghee (unsalted clarified butter)

In a large thick bottom pan, mix sugar and water. Put the pan on the 
stove on medium high heat and keep stirring until syrup starts to 
boil. After 7 or 8 minutes, test the syrup consistency by putting a drop 
of syrup on to a small plate and feeling it between two fingers. It 
should form a string. At this point remove the pan from heat and save 
one cup of syrup into a separate pan.

Step 3. Preparation of laddus
Mix janthika powder, sugar syrup and ghee. Stir continuously until 
the batter starts to become thick and manageable to make one-inch 
diameter balls. If the mixture is too dry to make balls, add little 
more sugar syrup you saved earlier. Rub little ghee on hands to make 
the balls. Makes 95 to 100 laddus. .


Cashew Brittle



4 Cups cashew pieces
2 Cups brown sugar
1 Cup regular sugar
1/2 Cup water
1 Tsp crushed, fresh cardamom seed
1 Tbsp homemade ghee ( clarified unsalted butter)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spread cashew pieces on a large pizza 
plate or cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes stirring often. When 
cashew are just light brown, take them out of the oven and cool them.

Spread a teaspoon of ghee on a large pizza plate or cookie sheet and 
keep it a side.

In a large saucepan, mix sugars and water and boil syrup on medium high 
heat stirring continuously. Test syrup by putting a drop on a plate. It 
should feel thick and not runny.

Remove syrup from the heat and add ghee, cardamom powder and cashews; mix quickly and thoroughly and pour on to prepared pizza plate (or cookie sheet); spread it quickly before the brittle gets hard.

Break into pieces and serve on a silver plate, bowl, or a crystal 
bowl.

Note: Cashews can be prepared one day early and kept in airtight 
container after they have cooled down. This sweet is a very easy to make 
quickly.

HAPPY DEEPAVALI & SAL MUBARAK!



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